Hail to the Red Sox and Other World Series Thoughts

After a particularly unmemorable World Series last year (wherein the Giants defeated the Tigers, and no one will blame you if you didn't remember that), the Red Sox and the Cardinals ratcheted up the Memorable Scale for us with the Fall Classic that ended last night with Red Sox 6-1 win in Game Six.  Congratulations Red Sox!This Series is made memorable due to the following...

To Absent Friends: Lou Reed

A melancholy Happy Trails to rocker Lou Reed, who passed away this past weekend at the age of 71.  I have to admit that I was not a big fan, and am not all that familiar with his overall body of work, but "Take a Walk on the Wild Side" was a big song when I was in college, and I rather liked it.  As you can hear in the link below, it's still a pretty good one.RIP Lou Re...

Trap Game Today? Steelers at Oakland

Since the Steelers have won two straight, visions of Playoffs are dancing in the heads of Stiller Nation, especially with a game against the putrid Oakland Raiders this afternoon.  However, these same Steelers LOST to an equally bad Raiders team last season, and, as Gene Collier spells out in his column today, the records of these two teams are eerily similar.Don't get me wrong. Like most of you, I will be cheering mightily for a Steelers win...

Game Three: Cardinals 5 - Red Sox 4

Well, I was tired as I sat down to watch the third game of the World Series last night, and there were times during the game that I was close to packing it in and going to bed, but am I glad I didn't!If you care at all about this stuff, you already know how the game ended - the Cardinals winning in the bottom of the ninth with a Walk Off Obstruction call against Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks.  I don't know this for certain, but I am pretty...

Some Farewells

As Tony and Mike say on Pardon the Interruption, we bid Happy Trails today to.....Jim LeylandAs you no doubt know, Leyland announced yesterday that he would not be returning as manager of the Tigers in 2014.  Leyland, after eight years and four post-season appearances, including two AL pennants, has decided that age 69, he's had enough.   When I first heard...

Cardinals vs. Red Sox

It turns out  Major League Baseball could have just skipped three rounds of Playoffs and had the St. Louis and Boston, the teams with the best records in their Leagues go directly to the World Series this year.  This would have made the purists who long for the days of two eight team leagues happy, but it sure would have deprived fans in Pittsburgh of a lot of excitement this Fall.This is the fourth time that these two teams meet in the...

Pay TV

Back in the summer of 1968, I was working at my first paying job - a usher at the Forum Theater in Squirrel Hill.  At one point during that time, the theater owners were asking all patrons to sign a petition against the looming menace, then known only as "Pay Television".  Pay TV, the reasoning went, would enable people to purchase first run movies in their homes to watch on their televisions.  Such a development would surely put movie...

Some Golf, Some Baseball, Some Basketball, Some TV, Some Football, Even Some High School Soccer!!

Cleaning out the Mental In-Box.....Whenever you play a round of golf in October, you run the risk of it being your last round of the year.  If that is to be the case, then I went down swinging with a two day trip to Oglebay Park in Wheeling, WV this week.  Along with fellow Highmark retirees Fred Shugars, John Coley, Steve Sutton, Mike Romano, and non-Highmark retiree Barry Trygar, we dodged the rain, but got in two rounds of golf at Oglebay's...

2013 Pirates Predictions. How Did I Do?

Most prognosticators will only tell you about the predictions that they got right.  Not The Grandstander.  I will let you know when I screw up.  With that in mind, let us go back to the post of March 28, 2013 when I laid out my Pirates predictions for the 2013 season that was about to begin.  Passages from that post will be in blue ink below, with current comments in red ink.I am optimistic about the everyday line-up.  I...

To Absent Friends: Scott Carpenter

One of the original Mercury astronauts, Scott Carpenter (front row, far right), passed away this week at the age of 88.  You have to be pretty much my age and older to remember the wonder and awe that was felt when the United States and the USSR first sent men into outer space.   Carpenter was the fourth American to go into space aboard his Mercury Aurora 7 capsule...

The Steelers at the Quarter Pole

I have been meaning to write this post for the last two weeks, ever since the Steelers loss to the Vikings in week four of the NFL season, but other things, mainly the Pirates run into the MLB Post Season, got in the way.  The title of this post is now somewhat irrelevant since most NFL teams have played five games, but I like it, and I'm sticking with it.OK, so now I'm going to write about the Steelers, the 0-4 Steelers, and where do I begin?We...

Movie Reviews, New and Old

We took in the latest romantic comedy, "Enough Said", today, and we both enjoyed it very much.  It starred James Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss.  Like most RomComs, you can pretty much see where it is headed, but so what?  It was funny, touching, sad in parts, and it showed that two people don't have to be young and beautiful to be in love.  Not that...

An Absent Friend

Regular readers know of my penchant for writing these posts "To Absent Friends" whenever some person notable in history, show biz, sports, or popular culture passes away.  Rarely do I note the deaths of personal friends and acquaintances because such folks are not generally known by everyone and because they are, well, personal.  However, I do feel compelled to note the sudden passing this week of friend John Ferguson at the age of 76.Like...

League Championship Series Predictions

Short and sweet before the first pitch is thrown:Cardinals over DodgersRed Sox over TigersHope I'm wrong on the AL prediction.  I would absolutely LOVE to see a couple of World Series pitching match-ups of Justin Verlander vs. Adam Wainwrig...

On the Pirates and On Gerrit Cole

So, last night as the Cardinals were popping champagne and getting ready to leave for LA, and the Pirates were showering to head back home, I made the following post on Facebook and on Pirate Chat:Tonight, no complaining, no second guessing, no finger pointing, no recriminations. Just a heartfelt THANK YOU to the 2013 Pirates. You gave us a season to always remember.Not much...

Sue Grafton and "W is for Wasted" (No Spoilers)

Since the publication of "A is for Alibi" in 1982, Sue Grafton has been one of my favorite authors and her "Alphabet Series" of mystery novels featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone have been on my "can't miss" list of reading pleasures.Last night, Sue Grafton was the guest speaker at the Drue Heinz Lecture Series at the Carnegie Music Hall, and it was a real treat...

My Week With the Pirates

What a week it has been following our Pittsburgh Pirates.  It began last Monday when we took in the Pirate Pep Rally in Market Square.Just WHO is that in the #22 jersey????There then followed the euphoric victory over the Reds at PNC Park in the Wild Card Game on Tuesday, and split of Games 1 and 2 in St. Louis, which we took in via the magic of television.Then, thanks...

The Division Series

That sure was a magical scene at PNC Park on Tuesday night, wasn't it?  It was, and still is, actually hard to come up with the words to describe the feelings that the scene, the crowd, the ball park, the city, and, most importantly, the TEAM gave us all throughout that 6-2 win over the Reds.But now, on to bigger things.  I am guessing that most people outside of...